05 December 2004	Sunday	22 Shawwal 1425

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 4: Pakistan is most likely to approach the World Bank for appointment of a neutral expert to settle the Baglihar dam dispute with India if the latter does not agree to hold a meeting in mid-December to settle the matter bilaterally.

The Ministry of Water and Power is already preparing the case for World Bank's intervention under Article IX of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, it is learnt.

Article IX of the bilateral water-sharing Treaty provides for settling disputes through neutral experts or arbitration if they cannot be resolved between the two Indus Waters Commissioners.

The formal notification for appointment of neutral expert will be sent by Pakistan Commissioner for Indus Waters Syed Jamaat Ali Shah to the World Bank that had brokered the Treaty and stands as its guarantor. Pakistan had already alerted the Bank officials concerned in Washington in this regard, sources told Dawn on Saturday.

Pakistan's Acting foreign secretary, Mr Shafqat Saeed, also called Indian High Commissioner Shivshankar Menon to the Foreign Ministry here on Thursday and told him categorically that Pakistan would not wait for the meeting beyond mid December, the sources said.

The proposed meeting in Islamabad would be attended by Indus Waters Commissioners, foreign ministry officials, Water and Power secretaries and technical experts from both sides.

India did not concur to the date of December 6 proposed by Pakistan last week for the meeting and instead suggested that it be held towards the month's end after it had provided Pakistan the data pertaining to the Baglihar project.

The date given by the Indian side for provision of the data is December 15.

Pakistan however has conveyed to India that the meeting be held on the same day (December 15) with the provision of the data. It has also been suggested by Pakistan that the meeting be spread over two or three days with the clear objective of resolving the issue by the end of it.

Indian contention is that Pakistan's objection to the Baglihar is of engineering nature that closely relate to the design of the plant and need to be substantiated. Pakistan maintains it will give quantitative substantiation of technical objections at the meeting.

At the water secretary-level meeting in June an understanding was reached between the two sides to resolve the issue by November. The four-step approach adopted by the two secretaries to this end was: provision of data by India in July; quantitative substantiation of technical objection by Pakistan; joint inspection of project by the technical experts of the two countries and the final meeting of water secretaries. However, India did not even adhere to its first commitment despite repeated reminders by Pakistan.

A leading Urdu language national daily reported on Saturday that during the Indian High Commissioner's visit to Larkana on Friday when his attention was drawn to Pakistan's concern that the Baglihar dam would reduce its share of water, he said it would not affect Sindh. He made no reference to its effects on the water flow in the Chenab river that irrigates the fertile land of Punjab.

Pakistan's stand is that the Baglihar dam, being constructed by India on the River Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir, is in breach of the Indus Waters Treaty.

Pakistan's main concern is that the gated structure would provide India the capability to manipulate flow of water to Pakistan's disadvantage. One serious consequence is that it would arm India with the capability to cause acute water shortages in Pakistan. According to technical experts it could deprive Pakistan of up to 8,000 cusecs of water per day.

India has been dragging its feet on the Baglihar issue since May 1999 when Pakistan first objected to its design. India has ignored Pakistan's repeated demands that it suspend work at the project site till the issue is settled.